


Seafoam Heart

by euronsleftbuttcheek



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Angst, Character Death, F/M, Fairy Tale Retellings, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Little Mermaid Elements, Mermaids, Mutual Pining, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pining, Romance, The Little Mermaid Retelling, Tragedy, but marinette and adrien are stupid so they dont realize the other loves them till the end, emphasis on tried lol, i mean yall know how this ends, i tried to mimic the writing style of a fairytale, not Disney, the hans christen anderson one, this sorta sticks to the original fairytale's ending but not really
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-25 16:09:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20028589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/euronsleftbuttcheek/pseuds/euronsleftbuttcheek
Summary: Marinette is a young mermaid, far more curious than she has any business being, and Adrien is the prince she falls desperately, hopelessly, in love with. She gives up her voice and the life she once knew for a chance of getting him to return her love....It is known that nothing good comes of a merrow who longs for what they should not have.It is also known that Marinette Dupain-Cheng cared little for that old proverb.





	Seafoam Heart

**Author's Note:**

> (please make sure to read the tags!)
> 
> so this fic is a loooong time in the making. i started it literal years ago and it's just been sitting unfinished in my docs, haunting me, for a long time lol. i reread for the first time in around a year about a week ago and remembered how much i liked it, so i finally had the motivation to finish it! im hoping to avg about a chapter a week. the chapter titles are taken from the song 'a heart full of love.'

Upon a merfolk’s fifteenth year, they are permitted to go to the surface. Some don’t care about whatever it is that’s up there, and so they never bother. Most travel to the above once or twice, their curiosity sated in a few hours. Then, there are the strange merfolk that seem to spend more time above the sea than below it. 

Young merfolk are told to stay away from those who hunger for the land, lest their strangeness be spread to them, for it is known that nothing good comes of a merrow who longs for what they should not have.

It is also known that Marinette Dupain-Cheng cared little for that old proverb.

As a merchild, few things delighted her more than hearing her grandmother tell stories of the world above. The old woman told Marinette of the birds and the songs they sang, she told her of fire, of clouds, and of how the flowers on land had a scent. Most of all, Marinette loved her grandmother’s stories of the humans and the strange things they did. Oh, how she’d love to dance and jump and run as they do. Marinette was sure there could be no greater pleasure than to laze about in a field of grass and spend the day smelling all of the different flowers. 

Finally, the day she was to finally visit the surface came. Marinette swam gaily from place to place with her dear friend Alya all day, speaking of the things she intended to see that night in the world above them. When it was time to send Marinette off, her parents exchanged worried glances, almost as if they knew what was to come. Her grandmother embraced her closely and gave her a gift. 

“It is a locket,” she explained as she secured it around Marinette’s neck, “ and the little pearl on the inside of it, that was taken from here. Keep this near your heart so that no matter how far you may stray, you shall always have a piece of us with you.” The old woman kissed Marinette’s smooth cheek. 

Marinette gently touched the necklace and smiled. “Thank you,” she said. “I will never be without it.” 

The young mermaid turned to swim up and away, but her grandmother caught her by the arm. “Do be careful, dear…” the old woman said thoughtfully.” The words had barely left her lips before Marinette eagerly swam off, disturbing the plants beneath them. Marinette’s mother, father, and grandmother stood in silence as they watched her. 

“Do you think she’ll come back?” her mother asked at last.

“Why wouldn’t she?” her grandmother replied. 

~

Marinette gasped at the feel of the cool night air on her wet skin as she broke through the ocean’s surface. She looked up and stars twinkled above her, so much brighter than they’d seemed beneath the waters below. The moon was resplendent, looking to Marinette like a large, flat shell hung up in the sky. Though the young mermaid had only been up above the waves for mere moments, she was most certain she’d found her greatest love. A gentle sea breeze began to blow, and the little mermaid laughed in delight at the simple act of hair being blown by the wind. Oh, how lovely it must be to take such pleasure in such mundanity! The young mermaid swam along on her back so that she would not have to look away from the night sky. 

_Is the sky just as lovely in the day?_ Marinette wondered. C_ould the clouds and the ball of fire possibly compare to the moon and the stars?_ Excitement pooled in her belly. Now that she was finally of age, she could find out. 

Marinette simply lay floating till she heard laughter and some wonderful, strange sound. Marinette quickly turned and gasped happily when she caught sight of the noise’s source. _A boat! _she thought. Her mother would kill her, Marinette knew, if she got too close to it. Humans were dangerous creatures after all. But surely, she reasoned, it would be alright to peak onto the ship so long as she stayed hidden. Marinette slowly inched towards the ship, her bravery growing the closer she became. 

The ship was a large beast to the small mermaid, seeming to her half the size of a whale. Truthfully, it was a small little ship, but of course a young mermaid wouldn’t know such things. 

The mermaid carefully hoisted her pale white arms up onto the deck so that she could watch the festivities, safely tucked behind some wooden barrels. She smiled as she watched the humans jump around the ship. Is this the dancing Grandmother had told her about? The burly men aboard the ship lacked the grace merfolk’s were known to possess but more than made up for it in their high spirits. Marinette realized the lovely noise she’d heard coming from the ship was indeed the music humans liked to make with their strange metal tubes and wooden boxes. Giddiness bubbled up in her stop as the men stomped to the lively song. She flicked her tail to the sound of it and suppressed the urge to clap.

The young merrow was so enraptured by the music and the dancing, she did not notice a young man come out from a cabin and join the others. Indeed, a great many moments passed before Marinette noticed the golden youth.

“Ay!” a bearded sailor cried, stopping his dancing. “Our young prince has decided t’ join us!” He bowed before the new boy, who was smiling happily at the crew.

Warmth spread throughout Marinette as she looked at the boy- a human prince! The boy had eyes of green and hair of spun gold. Marinette sucked in a breath. She surely had never known beauty, never known love before setting eyes on her golden prince. Damn the moon and her stars, the sun and its blue sky. She no longer cared to gaze upon them, not after laying eyes upon him. Marinette watched the prince, entranced by his every move. He was kind, Marinette decided, watching as he talked to his grew, clasping their shoulders and laughing with them. He did not seem to view himself as their but prince, but as an equal. 

Suddenly, a great crack of white light flashed across the sky, startling Marinette and the sailors alike. The white light struck again and again, each time growing closer to the ship. Terrible winds began to blow as well, so strong Marinette was knocked from her perch. Rain came down from the sky and a great rumbling sounded. It was a storm, Marinette realized with terror, and a strong enough storm can destroy a ship. Fear coiled around her throat as Marinette floated in the water, unable to help as she watched cruel Neptune claim her sweet prince’s ship.

As much as Marinette wanted to swim away and never return to the surface, her tail would not allow her to escape the destruction. Soon enough the ship was but a wreckage of wood and bodies. It would be a fool’s mission, Marinette knew, to search for the prince, but how could she live with herself if she did not at least try to save him? She swam through the remnants of the ship, desperately looking for a head of golden hair, her panicking growing rapidly as she could not find him. Finally, she saw his body strewn across a large plank of wood She gently touched her fingers to a bleeding wound o his temple. Her hear fluttered in relief as he sucked in a sharp breath. He was unconscious but not yet dead. But he would be soon if she didn't swim him to shore. Marinette slung his arm across her shoulders and prepared o swim away.

"Miss..."she heard the voice of a man croak from behind her. "Help me, please, help me. I don' want ta die out here." Marinette turned to look at him. It was the bearded sailor from behind, alive and awake. She said nothing and turned, swimming away from the wreck as fast as she could, the weight of the prince weighing on her back and the weight of the sailor she couldn't save weighing on her heart.

~

The sun had begun to rise as Marinette swam to a sandy shore. Gently, she laid him down on the banks of the ocean, near enough to the water it still came up to tickle his toes. A large white building sat near them. Marinette hoped the people there would care for her prince. Large bells began to chime, telling Marinette it was time for her to leave. But before returning to the ocean depths, she brushed some of the prince's hair from his face and pressed a gentle kiss to his cold mouth.

As the bells sounded, young women in uniform white dresses began to pour out of the building, and so Marinette quickly took her leave, hiding behind a large rock. She heard the girls gasp upon catching sight off the prince. Marinette poked her head out from behind the rock and saw a girl with honey colored hair and bright blue eyes drop down next to Adrien, placing his head in her lap. He suddenly awoke and looked at the girl in a way that made Marinette's heart ache. The girl was golden, just like her prince, and Marinette wondered numbly if he'd fall in love with her. 

Marinette swam back home, and she swore the ocean had never felt so cold before.

**Author's Note:**

> thank u for reading and have a lovely day!  
kudos and comments are always greatly appreciated!!


End file.
